MBA Alumnus Paul Martello Wins Baby and Infant "Product of the Year" With the Yummy Spoon

August 5, 2016 | 1 min read

Graziadio Alumnus Paul Martello (MBA ’13) recently won “Product of the Year” for the Yummy Spoon at the ECRM Baby & Infant Show, the nation's largest tradeshow for baby products. Martello first pitched the Yummy Spoon—a vessel-like baby spoon that allows users to puree contents within the spoon’s body then squeeze them into the spoon portion—while an MBA Entrepreneurship student at Graziadio. After making it to the final round of the Graziadio 2012 Business Plan Competition, which offers student entrepreneurship teams venture capital feedback and the chance to win cash prizes, Martello refined the Yummy Spoon over the next three years alongside his sister Gina, who originally conceived the idea. “On my first day of the MBA program,” says Martello, “Professor Wayne Strom asked us to look around the room and tell the class what we noticed about our fellow students. I said, ‘None of us are entrepreneurs.’ Little did I know that one and half years later Professor Larry Cox would turn me into an award-winning entrepreneur and the idea conceived in his class would make it to mass retail. Yummy Spoon is my sole source of income now, it is my only job.” Inspired by the Pepperdine motto, “Freely ye received, freely give," Martello donates a portion of all sales to feed hungry children across the U.S. Martello, LLC is headquartered in Calabasas, CA.